YOUNG ASPIRATIONS/YOUNG ARTISTS 1992 Doc Now Re-Released on DVD!

I’m super excited that my 1992 Emmy award winning documentary YOUNG ASPIRATIONS/YOUNG ARTISTS is now re-released on DVD through New Day Films and also as Video on Demand from New Day Digital! It was such a tremendous job getting an old format film into the digital realm! My hope is that this very useful film will have a new life now that it is in a digital format that will live on for the forseeable future.

This documentary tells the story of how the super-successful after school arts program YA/YA, Inc., was founded and built, and follows the first two classes of YAYA artists and the original staff through a year of projects and travel. It really teaches, in detail, how to found a non-profit working with young people, and talks about the early challenges and successes of YAYA, Inc.

The new DVD includes the original 56 minute PBS documentary, plus the 32 minute Classroom edition. It also includes a new 13 minute retrospective documentary, YA/YA @ Twenty that features many of the original YA/YA artists talking about their lives and work today.

Many thanks to the collaborators who helped make this DVD possible: Robert Arnold for his DVD authoring, Trayc Claybrook for the DVD cover design, Rebecca Snedeker who nudged me and offered to do production sound for the retrospective documentary and Dexter Stewart for shooting it. Also, a huge thank you to YAYA founder Jana Napoli who helped produce the retrospective documentary and who underwrote the production of the DVD.

Tell your friends to get their schools and community groups to buy the YAYA DVD from New Day Films for only $99, $89 for community groups: http://www.newday.com/films/Young_Aspirations.html

Contact me@shirleythompson.net if you’d like to purchase a home video copy (for personal use only) for $25, including shipping.